Time for a Change
by TR-Fanfic
Summary: When Mac questions Harm about the Baby deal in Standards of Conduct, she gets an answer she didn't expect.


This scene takes the conversation at the end of Standards of Conduct in a whole new direction. I was inspired by the clip on the Harmyboard following the question I posted. It also falls in with the spring fever April challenge. Harm's feeling courageous in the light of spring and the new babies coming!

I don't own JAG but if I did, I would have showcased all of Harm and Mac's sex dreams about each other. You know there were a lot of them. I mean…look at them both!

Honest feedback is always appreciated

Time for a Change

By TR

"I'll bet you were afraid to ask. Or maybe you were afraid that I would want to up the time table."

"Now that never occurred to me," he lied. "Do you?"

Mac gave a laugh, "Harm it wasn't a Freudian slip, it was just a mistake."

"You're sure?"

"You want to go back on your promise?" She asked.

"No," he said with a hint of very real offense.

"Then why the sudden worry, it's over a year away?"

"Well…" He turned slightly away looking at some unknown point by the window, stalling. "…it's just…"

She frowned, concern creeping in and shoving the lightheartedness into the corner of the room. "It's just…?" She prodded.

He took a deep breath and took a seat, she watched him, something roiling in her belly. The knowledge that something was about to change whether she liked it or not.

"I wouldn't call it worry…exactly. And I don't want to go back on what I promised you. I just expected us to be…farther along than we are now by this time."

Her eyes grew wide. "Farther along?"

"Mac, it was never just about having a baby, or doing you a 'favor'. I always expected us to be together if…when we came to the point of having a family."

She stopped breathing. Too many things raced around at once in her mind, and she struggled to put them into a nice and tidy order. Her eyes squinted and she ordered all of her thoughts to 'fall in!' When they lined up in formation, she blew out a breath.

"I…I'm not sure what to say to that. Are you wanting to modify our deal? Or…"

"In a way, yes." He rubbed his forehead. Shouldn't a moment like this be more romantic? Where are the candles and that soft cashmere sweater he always pictured her wearing when he finally screwed up the courage to let go? He sighed. "I'm just saying, if in a little over a year, we're going to try to have a baby, then we should at least change things between us."

She sat back in her chair. "Slow down a minute. Are you sure that you're ready for a change? You've been borderline panicked all day long, how do I know you won't just turn tail and run?"

He frowned. "When have I ever done that? Especially with you?"

"You haven't…yet. We've also never changed things before." She dropped her head. "Harm," she said his name softly like prayer misted fear. "I know your face." She reached over, touched his cheek. "I've seen this face before, on a ferry in Sydney Harbor."

He reached up and took her hand. "I'm not that man anymore."

"Then why do you look like a deer in the headlights?"

"Because you scare me!" He said, wanting immediately to take it back. What was it about her that made him bare his soul wide open the moment he loosened the strings? "With you there's so much more to lose."

"I know." She looked him in the eye. "I know."

He squeezed her hand. "We have two choices, we give in to the fear and stay at arm's length, or we just…give in."

She knew what he meant, it was exhausting to keep fighting it, and so very scary to stop. He didn't give her time to respond.

"So I'm saying, we need to change things." His cocky smirk was back in its rightful place, and he raised an eyebrow at her. The lawyer turned into the pilot before her eyes. He wasn't going to back down in the face of anything. Slowly he stood, still holding her hand and tugged her close. "Because frankly I don't want a year from now to be the first time I touch you!"

She gaped, making his remaining nerves disappear in a moment of laughter. He stroked her face the way he knew she loved. She closed her eyes, turned her cheek following the stroke and kissed the tips of his fingers. For a moment he was back on the porch and it was her engagement party all over again. Except this time he wasn't wiping her tears. If he had his way, he'd never have to do that again. "So what do you say?" He said in almost a whisper.

She slowly opened her eyes, looked up at him through her eye lashes in the way that she knew he loved. She gave a feline smile. "Say to what?"

He grinned. "How about tonight? I'll pick you up at 8."

She smiled back. "Sounds good."

He raised her hand to his mouth and laid a soft kiss on her palm. She gasped, and he filed that move away for future reference. "I'll see you at 8," he said in a low velvet voice. And then he was gone, and she stood…stunned.

End of scene. Good? Bad? Tennis Elbow? Let me know.


End file.
